Our farmyard Frankensteins

It’s all about size at the animal husbandry and livestock section at the Krishi Mela, which was inaugurated at GKVK campus on Wednesday. Farmers were showing off hefty animals to attract visitors’ attention.

But what’s interesting is that these heavyweights are fast growers, too, and are gaining favour among entrepreneurs.

The Boer variety of goat grows to be as heavy as 120kg in three years. At this weight, they sell for Rs50,000-Rs60,000. They can be fattened to about 300kg to 400 kg in five years. But they are kept in the lightweight category, as they are used mostly for breeding.

“We don’t sell them for meat. They’re used for breeding. People buy calves from us,” said Sateesh G of Sinchana Goat Farm.
Bigger is better, seems to be the way forward. A pair of Jamunapari goats, which together weigh 240kg, were sold for Rs1.5 lakh during Bakrid recently, said Ravikumar, a farmer from Hoskote. “It can gain 100kg to 120kg in two years. They are ideal for functions, which require five- to six regular-sized Indian goats or just two of these,” he added. The ram bullet sheep could get as heavy as 70kg-80kg.

These goats are not yet competing for the consumer’s attention in the meat market. However, these fast-growing stall-fed super-goats could soon nudge the leaner local variety out if their advantage is seen as favourable from the nutrition standpoint. “I used to graze about 100-150 goats. But now, for three years, I have just been rearing these special variety goats. They are fed in their stalls with what is commonly known as shailej,” Sateesh said.

Animals that grow the fattest in the least amount of time are being preferred. Ducks that gain 3kg in eight weeks, turkeys that put on 6kg in 24 weeks, emus that weigh 40kg in just over a year are becoming popular. To add to this list, a company is planning to import semen of the Cyprus Shami goat. Its specialty: It can weigh up to 30kg in four months.

The common fowl is also getting bigger. The Chabro takes just six weeks to gain 1.3kg. It looks deceptive like country chicken, but tastes like broiler, thus making it attractive to the consumer. Hence, it is also called croiler. It doesn’t, however, score on nutrition. “Nutritionally, it is the same as broiler. It has higher fat content than country. But it is more affordable at `60-`80 per kg. Country chicken costs `150,” said Abhijit Kumar of Central Poultry Development Organisation and Training Institute.

But should we include such animals in our diet with the same enthusiasm as they fatten up? Ask your nutritionist.